El Paso's Musicians (Past and Present) is about many of the musicians that I was associated with from the 1960's to present day. Some of us played in local bands and went on to other opportunities out of El Paso. This site is about those experiences and an invitation to hear from my musician friends and share your stories. Have fun "scrolling" down our memory lane.
Rick Kern-Publisher and Editor

The beginning of our journey......

I would like to welcome you to "El Paso's Musicians (Past and Present)" My intent with this site is to bring information about musicians I have known in El Paso from the 60's to present day. Many of the musicians that you will be reading about were either in groups that I played in while living in El Paso, as well as, the ones that I befriended all throughout high school and college. I graduated from UTEP in 1972 and in 1973 my wife and I left El Paso with a vocal show group called The Sounds Royale. The group started out with Sam Stephenson (guitar-vocals), Gayle Hageman (bass-vocals), Tedd McKeever (keyboards-vocals), Debbie Wilson (flute-vocals) and myself, Rick Kern (drums-vocals) The group was based out of Newport Beach, CA. We performed at mainly Orange County venues such as The Disneyland Hotel, Charley Browns in Huntington Beach, The Newporter Inn, Del Webb's Townhouse and the San Francisco Hyatt Regency. Today these musicians are scattered all over the place. Sam is living in Houston, Tx. and serves as the Dir. of Safety for Union Pacific Railroad. Gayle and his wife live in El Paso where he is a self-employed entertainer. Tedd is still performing jazz in Bremerton, WA. We are still trying to find Debbie. I am sure she is warming many hearts out there somewhere with her fabulous voice. There was an additional bass/sax/vocalist by the name of Wayne Mills that played with the group. He is still living in Orange County, CA. and is retired. I moved back to El Paso with my wife to be with our respective families and to start our own family. Both of our kids, Ricky (25) and Nicole (23) are musicians both living in Austin. Nicole plays electric cello with an Austin band called Alex Dupree and the TrapDoor Band. She is also playing with a popular Austin band called "Balmorhea". Both of our kids went to UT Austin. Ricky graduated in May, 2007 and Nicole graduated in May, 2008. They both love photography and film. The YouTube videos on this site were produced by my son to show our capability to show videos of performers on this site. He also did my colorful splash page that you see when you first log on to the site.

There were two other groups that I played with while on the road. When the Sounds Royale disbanded I advertised my profile at the Local Musicians Union that I belonged to in Los Angeles. Two guys were looking for a drummer/vocalist and that was the beginning of "Tapestry". The members were Curt Hespe (keyboard-bass-horn-vocals) Dan Evans (guitar-bass horn-vocals) and myself (drums-horn-vocals) This was the group that travelled the most. We played many show rooms from one corner of the U.S. to the other, including two tours of Canada. Our very first job, after only being rehearsed for two weeks, was the Sahara in Lake Tahoe. During that time we appeared on the same billboard with Elvis, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes, The Fifth Dimension and the Jackson 5. We were suppose to be there for one week and they held us over for 5. The only bad part of that booking was when we all came down with the flu at the same time. Remember the saying "the show must go on" well, it did with the grace of God and alot of liquids. This group continued travelling all over the country. We even took a three day break to cut an album in Cincinatti, Ohio at Queen City Studios. We sold the album mainly to people that saw our shows. This group lasted about three years. My last group on the road was also called "Tapestry" It consisted of Dan Evans from the first Tapestry, Jerry Johnson (bass-guitar-steel guitar-vocals), Danny Miller (guitar-vocals) and myself on drums and vocals. This group came together as a result of my old friendship with Jerry Johnson. He was a Chaplains Assistant at Ft. Bliss in El Paso around 1967-68. We played in a group called the Basic Sound at the Knights Club. That club was in the old Rodeway Inn at Bassett Center. Jerry was living in Long Beach, CA. when I asked him if he would like to form a new group. Out of my three groups on the road, this one was the group that was more destined for a recording contract and opportunity to break out of the club scene. We will never forget the night that we were playing at the Reubens in West Covina, CA. when our agent came in and told us that we were going to be on the Captain and Tennile TV Special with Neil Diamond. Dick Clark was the producer of the show. We signed the contract and had our original songs ready to showcase. There was only one small problem - none of the networks picked up the contract. How do you say "that's show biz" It was not too long after that that I left the group and came back to my home town of El Paso where I still live. Thisis the rest of the story....

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Rick Kern - Publisher/Promoter

"Music has always been my first love" On May 15, 2010, 2:00 p.m.,I will be speaking at the Hubbard Museum in Ruidoso, N.M. - "Southwestern Sounds & Musical Influences: from El Paso to Clovis" Click my image to take you to the museum site for more information.

Where are the new posts?

I'm sure many of you are wondering about why there haven't been new additions to the site. I was afraid that this problem would eventually come to pass. The maximum bandwidth that Blogger allows has been exceeded. I am going to change the blog to a real web-site. This is going to take some time but will be much better with much more functionality and useful tools. Please hang in there with us as we transition to the next stage of our growth. There's a bunch of new and interesting stuff coming! I also want to tell you that the way to see all of the posts that are on the site is to click on the bottom right Older Posts at the end of each page that opens. That will take you to the next page. The site used to scroll continously but no longer will work that way. Rick Kern

PT & the Cruisers

El Paso Scottish Rite Theater Shows

Upcoming Concerts at the El Paso Scottish Rite Theater

Upcoming Shows - TBA

Please go to FaceBook and type in El Paso Scottish Rite Theater or www.elpasoscottishrite.org for additional information and details. Tickets can be purchased at All That Music & Video, at the Scottish Rite Temple and on line at http://www.elpasoscottishrite.org/.

BORDER LEGENDS OF EL PASO

Eighth Annual Border Legends of El Paso Rock n' Roll Concert

Come join us at the 8th Annual Border Legends of El Paso Rock Concert, Oct. 15, 2016. There will be various 50's Diner choices for optional costs. Beer, wine, sodas and set ups will be available. Doors open at 3:00 pm with the concert starting at 4:00 pm. Seating is first come first served. Tickets are currently available at the El Maida Shrine Auditorium at 6331 Alabama, All That Music & Video, Collectibles at Lomaland & Mesa, Sharon's Hallmark, the Headstand. Tickets can also be purchased at the door the day of the show. For additional information go to http://www.borderlegends.net.

PT and the Cruisers

A CHORUS LINE

UTEP Dinner Theater

Click Picture For Complete Details

My wife and I have been attending UTEP Dinner Shows for many years. We have also hosted many Lions Club Socials at the UDT and everyone always say the same thing after the show. "It just doesn't get much better than this" El Paso and it's university is truly blessed to have this caliber of theater at an affordable price. The production staff and performers are simply Top Flight!

Jazz El Paso Connection

Balmorhea - European Tour 4/13-5/17/2009 - 8 Countries, 22 Concerts

TEXAS MUSICIANS MUSEUM

Click On The Flag To Enter Our Site

Would You Like To Contribute To Our Quest?

Many of you have been giving me very favorable comments about doing this site and for that I am greatful. I would like any of you that have pictures and information that could be used here to send it to: winmkt2@swbell.net. I will review everything and do my best to post it to the site. I would like to personally thank Sam Stephenson, Paul Quattlebaum, Doug Neal, Sonny Melendrez, Kenney Smith, Dalton Powell, Larry Thompson, Rod Crosby and Curtis Conroy for your inspiration and numerous contributions. There's plenty of room for much, much, more - so please keep them coming. Thanks! Rick Kern

HandleBars - 1631 N Lee Trevino

About Me

I began playing drums and singing at age 11. I studied vocal music from grade school through college. There were numerous groups that I played with while living in El Paso - The Masters of War, The Sacred Mushroom, The Westhampton Barge, The Basic Sound,and Macadamia were the well known groups. In 1972, upon graduating from UTEP, my wife and I began our travelling on the road. You can read about those experiences in posts on the site. We moved back to El Paso and had two kids, Ricky and Nicole. They are both musicians(viola and cello). Nicole plays in two popular bands in Austin, Texas - Alex Dupree and the Trap Door Band. The other one is Balmorhea. I continued my singing for two years with The Bruce Nehring Consort. My wife and I love all types of music and attend just about everything that comes to El Paso. We stay in contact with many of our musician friends and are looking forward to hearing from more on this site.